War and Peace: Volume 4, Part 3: Chapters 12–15 Summary & Analysis

Throughout their march, Pierre has noticed the French becoming more and more disorderly. Supply wagons have been captured or abandoned. Of the 330 prisoners who departed from Moscow, fewer than 100 remain. The French resent having to guard the Russian prisoners, who are as cold and hungry as themselves, and they treat them more harshly. Pierre reunites with Karataev and his sidekick, a bowlegged dog. Three days after leaving Moscow, Karataev comes down with a fever and rapidly weakens. Pierre finds himself withdrawing from the sick man, who smells bad and moans a lot.

During this long march, Pierre learns that there isn’t anything truly frightening in the world. He’s discovered that there’s no situation in which he can be completely unhappy or unfree. There’s only so bad suffering can get, he finds. Even when the sores on his feet become severe, he finds that it’s just a matter of getting up and walking until he forgets the pain. He thinks neither about the stragglers who are shot nor about his own fate; his joyful thoughts and memories transcend his circumstances.

On October 22nd, Pierre walks along with Gray the dog, thinking about a conversation with Platon Karataev the night before. When he walked up to Platon’s campfire, he felt uncomfortable seeing the sickly old man but forced himself to stay and listen to a story. The story was about a God-fearing old merchant who was falsely accused of murder and sentenced to hard labor. Ten years later, when the merchant told his story around a fire, the real murderer happened to hear it. He fell at the merchant’s feet in repentance, but the merchant said he didn’t need to forgive the killer; his sentence has been punishment for his own sins. After some time, the merchant’s situation was brought to the tsar, who ordered his release. But the merchant died in the meantime; God had already forgiven him. Upon finishing this story, Karataev’s face had glowed with joy. Pierre thinks about it for a long time.

There’s a commotion among the prisoners; they form up to let a well-dressed convoy pass by. About the same time, Pierre spots Karataev leaning against a tree, his face both tender and solemn. Karataev catches Pierre’s eye, and Pierre knows he should go over to him, but he’s too afraid, so he pretends he didn’t see. Not long after, Pierre hears the sound of a shot, and he sees a soldier run past him with a smoking gun, looking troubled. Gray the dog starts to howl, but nobody turns to look.

The prisoners reach the village of Shamshevo, and Pierre falls asleep by the fire. He dreams vividly of Karataev, knowing that the hardest and happiest thing is to love life while suffering guiltlessly. When he wakes up, his mind puts together the details from earlier that day, and he acknowledges to himself that Karataev is dead. But, at the same moment, he drifts into a dream of a summer evening spent with a beautiful woman in Kiev.

The next time Pierre wakes, he hears joyful shouting. Cossacks surround the soldiers, offering them clothes and food. Pierre weeps with joy and kisses the first soldier he sees. Meanwhile, Dolokhov stands by the manor house, watching hundreds of French prisoners file past, a cruel gleam in his eye. Denisov follows some Cossacks to a pit where Petya Rostov will be buried.